Alfie Brown - The Revolting Youth - 4 Stars

14/01/2014 14:15 GMT
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Updated
15/03/2014 09:59 GMT

If Jack Whitehall is the middle ground of comedy then Alfie Brown is the uncompromising cerated edge. With his latest offering, Brown has veered slightly away from the sermonic qualities of Soul for Sale but the humour hasn't suffered for it. He's ever so slightly mellowed but this show still provides the caustic and learned humour that has become his hallmark.

I say he's mellowed but Brown's still never far away from spewing eloquent vitriol against Bankers, Facebook, unpaid internships, or whatever target finds itself unfortunate enough to be in his crosshairs. The title of the show, The Revolting Youth, operates as a play on words and indeed his routine plays on this duality as he simultaneously attacks youth culture whilst also suggesting that they're only the product of a society that has failed them.

Walk outs aren't an uncommon occurrence at his gigs and Alfie is not only aware of his divisiveness but seems to actively relish it. It's this mentality of never seeking approbation that frees Brown up to be unerring in his commitment to his uniquely waspish intellectual brand of humour. Brash and confident but acutely aware of his own personal failings, he points out the absurdity of the current system but doesn't profess to have any real solutions. Instead he offers a logic that is simultaneously absurd but often difficult to find fault with; his routine regarding this country needing a dictator springs to mind.

His act is vaguely reminiscent of George Carlin as he jumps from angry polemics against larger social issues to smaller dissections of semantics and everyday parlance. He also proves to be an adept improviser as evidenced by his continually successful forays into audience interaction including an extended rant against an audience member who left midway through after taking exception to the explicit nature of the material.

Unfortunate due to its timing but the only lull in the show comes towards the end as the final joke fails to deliver the same bite that permeated through the rest of the show. But on the basis of this performance, I still resolutely stick by my words from my previous review that Alfie Brown is one of the most exciting comedians working today.